The Cyborg System-Chapter 69: First Match

The Knight of the Haunting Veil waited in a locker room beneath the arena. Her opponent picked for the first round was the Dancing Blade. She had heard of the name, and though his speed affinity was technically her strength in the Triad, she had no illusions this would be an easy fight.

Her turn would be coming shortly, and so, she steadily practiced her movements, keeping warm and loose, without expending too much energy. There was an irony in that the techniques she had been practicing so frequently, minimising the area of protection to preserve essence, was exactly the wrong approach for dealing with speed users who could change the target of their attacks so nimbly.

The Dancing Blade was known as an expert swordsman, a fine head-hunter, and above all else, for using a two-handed blade. Such a combination was unique among speed users, who would usually prioritise speed over power. However, the knight’s blade had a speed enhancement, the optimal complement to his ability, but simply preferred the extra strength that a two-handed weapon provided with its increased weight. What it sacrificed in speed could be more than made up for by the user’s own skills. In essence, this created a slightly more well-rounded fighter, rather than absolutely doubling down on skills, as was typical. While this might suggest his bladework was slower than a similar speed user, he was not called the Dancing Blade for no reason.

All that was cast aside by The Knight of the Haunting Veil—a name which no longer seemed appropriate. Instead, she had to enact her own plan. That plan was both simple and fitting for the current tournament: endure.

*

Stepping out on the sand, the volume soared. Not all of the Council seemed to be focused on her, but those of the School of Stone had high hopes for their representative. The leader seemed to divide his attention somewhat evenly between the two fighters taking the stage, not favouring one or the other.

"What are their names?" asked Adina.

"The Knight of the Haunting Veil and Dancing Blade," replied Sylvia, eager to see her companion from the School of Hare do well.

"And yet, she has no veil..." said Marcellus.

"I have heard of them both," said Victor. "He held off a monster for over a minute while the troops were being dispatched. She took out four predators by herself."

"Who do you give it to, then?" asked Marcellus.

"I don’t play favourites... but the monster is the more impressive feat of the two."

"Aren’t you a betting man?" asked Brunhild with a thin smile. It was easier for the School of Brawn to take an ambivalent or even playful stance when one of their representatives was not on the field.

"I give this one to the rocks," said Sarah, the single Council member of the School of Flight. Their seat was not guaranteed, being one of several which would fade in and out dependent on the strength of their most prominent members.

"Why might that be?" asked Timothee defensively.

"Just a feeling," she replied.

At that, the announcer stepped forward on a raised platform to read from a piece of parchment paper. Such added to the traditional nature of the ceremony.

"From the School of Hare, we have Dancing Blade, from Section 11."

Everyone looked at the ornately stitched tunic, made of speed enhanced cores. There was not a mark on them.

"And his opponent, from the School of Stone, The Knight of the Haunting Veil, all the way from Section 41."

In comparison, The Knight of the Haunting Veil’s pock-marked armour looked battle-worn and sturdy. Their armours were typical to the point of banality.

"The winner will proceed to the quarter finals. The loser goes home... Are you ready?"

The Dancing Blade shouted, "Yes!" The Knight of the Haunting Veil gave a small nod.

"Let the duel commence!"

Before the announcer had left the platform, the Dancing Blade had already crossed the distance and was coming down fast with a strike of his two-handed blade. She attempted to raise her shield to protect from the blow, but alas, her opponent’s speed was unmatched. Even her helmet, which somewhat protected her from the strike, was not of a hardening aspect and therefore struggled to take the force of the blow.

While the dull sound was painful to hear, underneath, her hardening had protected her well and the damage was minimal, at least as far as her face was concerned. The helmet, however, had seen better days. Perhaps she could have wasted some energy activating the speed enhancement of the helmet, but she doubted it would have been enough and the cost was far too high.

Instead, she made for a strike of her own with the mace. Before she could land, two further strikes were made to her body, against the neck and the hand holding the sword. Just as her own strike was about to land, the Dancing Blade leapt backwards out of range. 𝒻𝓇𝑒𝘦𝘸𝑒𝒷𝓃ℴ𝑣𝘦𝑙.𝒸ℴ𝘮

"You’ll have to do better than that," said the Dancing Blade.

"What do you think to our first exchange?" asked Marcellus.

"By mixing up the location of the strikes, he’s forcing her to enhance a lot more of her body, draining her essence," said Timothee.

"Please," said Greta. "Those weak strikes? She’s probably not even bothering to use her hardening."

"Her helmet would beg to differ," said Sylvia.

At that, a sudden lunging attack was made as the Dancing Blade tried to drive his blade through the armpit of the knight, beneath the shoulder guard. However, sensing the oncoming attack, she had begun to move slightly, making the lunge go directly into the shoulder piece. A small pock mark was shown in its place. This suggested one of two things: either, the strike was very powerful, or the Knight of the Haunting Veil had not bothered to activate the armour’s hardening. No one could really tell.

She tried to strike out again, this time with her shield, but again, the Dancing Blade was out of range before she could make impact. Such a game of cat and mouse was not unusual. But for the first time, small beads of sweat could be seen on the Dancing Blade’s forehead, who had no helmet to speak of, choosing speed and freedom of movement over a high level of protection.

In effect, one or two clean strikes landing would be all that was needed to end the fight. The problem was, landing a strike, never mind a clean one on an opponent so swift and skilful.

Doubling down on his aggressive approach, Dancing Blade had closed the distance again and swung in an upwards motion. She had no time to react, but was surprised when the strike, instead of imparting force, as she had expected, instead lifted the lip of her helmet, throwing it off her head.

Suddenly, light flooded her vision, temporarily disorientating her and forcing her to cast hardening all over her head. It was a good job she had done so, as a series of strikes was landing from every angle. She attempted to counter, but her opponent would simply move out of the way and return to raining down his barrage of strikes.

It had been a long time since she had been forced to maintain hardening for such a length of time. This action would clearly drain her opponent too though. She made a decision to reduce the level of hardening slightly, taking more damage, but enduring for longer. Cuts and contusions started to appear on her face, though not deep, the crowd reacted as if the final was already won, screaming out: "Dancing Blade! Dancing Blade! Dancing Blade!"

This carried on for a few more seconds, her opponent desperately trying to finish her off, until suddenly he leapt back out of range.

Everyone around could see her face was covered in lacerations, but she kept moving forward to her foe.

"Cut to ribbons," said Sylvia.

"I think yours has ran out of steam," said Greta.

"He’s got plenty left in the tank, I’m sure," replied Timothee, though his voice was not as confident as it had been previously.

It was true that it was highly likely he had at least some essence in reserve, but the Knight of the Haunting Veil was sure he was almost spent. She discarded her shield and slowly walked after him.

"She’s tenacious, I’ll give her that," added Marcellus.

Not giving up the fight, Dancing Blade would temporarily engage with a few quick strikes, still targeting the face like the head-hunter he was. However, he was clearly on the backfoot. Weighed down by heavy armour, she would struggle to catch him, although she could often back him up towards the arena walls. That’s when she made an unusual choice. She dropped her heavy mace, lightening her load and freeing up her other arm.

Seeing the opportunity, the Dancing Blade went in for a strike. This time, instead of simply relying on his own essence, he supplemented the strike with the active speed enhancement effect of his blade, draining even more essence. Essentially, this was an all-or-nothing final blast, attempting to slice cleanly through his opponent.

The extra momentum could be seen by those of the School of Hare especially, who were mildly activating their abilities to perceive the subtle shifts in the action more closely. If she defended this strike as she had done the others, there would be a clear victor.

However, the knight had read the battle well. She knew her opponent was concentrating their attacks in one area, hoping to build up the damage. Further, she had a red target of mutilated flesh on her face. Dropping her mace and shield could only illicit one response. She had spent several months concentrating her hardening in one area, and though this was usually done merely to preserve energy, it also gave her the opportunity to apply more essence in one spot, as she did now.

The bottom of the Knight of the Haunting Veil’s face became an immovable object, with no give or leeway. As the swift, heavy blade landed, the recoil was imparted back up to the attacker’s hand, who struggled to keep hold of his weapon. Further, his essence was now gone, giving him little option to move from the hands which had reached out to grab his shoulders.

A headbutt swiftly followed, and the Dancing Blade’s nose and jaw crumbled like eggshell under the impact of her hardened skull. He collapsed instantly, his legs sprawled beneath him, as a healer with speed enhancing armour came to rejuvenate him.

The announcer mounted the platform. "Winner: The Knight of the Haunting Veil."

Nobody knew quite when, but Victor was now stood up, a look of amusement on his face. After staring for a moment, he whispered something in the ear of Sarah, who used her summoned wings to fly over to the announcer.

The announcer addressed the audience again.

"The Knight of the Haunting Veil has earnt a new name today. From henceforth, she shall be known as the Knight of the Granite Face."

The crowd screamed in applause. They were truly impressed by the fighter’s performance and a new name served to add further grandeur to the occasion.

Through bloody, sliced-up lips, the Knight of the Granite Face gave a thin smile. "One down, three to go," she thought to herself.